


Halloweening

by followmetoyourdoom



Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Halloween, Kinda, Princess/Knight, SO, also there's a pumpkin in there, also this is now completed, and got all 3 in again for day 2, and kinda got all for day 3, and technically it's the first date of their truce, but boy do i love shoving mep in tight claustrophobic spaces, but it may become a series, for Iristo Weekend, he's not as bad this time, i kinda got all 3 prompts in, subtle anxiety attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-16 23:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12352779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/followmetoyourdoom/pseuds/followmetoyourdoom
Summary: The twins decide to hatch their next plan on Halloween, using the town’s infamous Haunted House as the location for their next devious plot. But when the twins run into a problem, it’s up to Iris to be their knight in shining armour.





	1. Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> Bc I know this is gonna confuse some people, this is set after season 2 episode 2, except it’s still October in universe. Yeah I know, but *gestures to canon* they put the random-ass Halloween ep in there okay, not me, I’m just pretending it happened two weeks before Halloween and that the rest of season 1 and the first 2 eps of season 2 happened in those two weeks. It’s a stretch, I know. Let’s just pretend.

As dusk fell on a vibrant and festive Sunny Bay, skeletons on the sides of houses danced a jig in the cold october breeze, pumpkins grinned eerily out at passersby in costumes, and giggles and shrieks of children and teens alike echoed down the streets.

The girls were making their way towards the infamous Sunny Bay Haunted House, open to the public for Halloween. To those brave enough to enter that is.

There was, of course, nothing haunted about the house. It was simply old and decrepit, and perhaps had an issue with rodents. That didn't stop the mayor of the town using it to rake in money for his retirement fund, especially not when it was also the murder scene of a family back in the 1960s. Murder was good for business.

This time, however, a certain pair of twins were going to make sure its patrons got more than what they paid for.

"Urgh, do we _have_ to wear these tacky costumes, Mephisto?"

Her brother grinned, "C'mon, Prax. They're not all that different from our usual outfits. Besides, I like the teeth." He smiled again, showing off the razor sharp incisors the two twins had magicked onto their own teeth. "Besides, pretending to be ghosts won't work. So vampires it is."

Praxina curled her lip. "Ah yes, perfect pretty Princess Talia with her ghost vision. Please."

"Ew, did you just call Talia 'pretty'."

"No!" Praxina said defensively. "I meant it in an insulting way." She whacked her brother on the back of the head when he started chuckling. "Let's just get this over with."

Mephisto nodded and peaked around the door frame, spotting the girls in the crowd. He squinted slightly. "Okay. Iris is in… red? Yes, that's Iris, blonde hair, okay. Auriana… I don't know what Auriana is meant to be, but she has white paint on her face and-"

Praxina elbowed him. "I'm not the one that mixed Iris up with some random human last time. Just get in the coffin before I give you a reason to be there permanently."

"Fine fine, relax, I'm going."

She thought for a moment, then grabbed her brother's arm last minute. "Make sure you don't get trapped or stuck in there like an idiot. We rigged them to open from the inside, but just make sure you don't mess it up or-"

Mephisto cut her off as he smiled, recognising her worry. "I'll be fine."

Praxina nodded. She knew she was asking a lot of her brother, having him lie in wait in a tight dark spot, but he'd assured her he'd be fine. The months of Gramorr torturing Mephisto and playing on his fear of the dark were behind him, he'd insisted. Besides, his paranoia only kicked in when he couldn't get out.

The girls finally got to the front of the queue and Iris paid for the tickets. The three girls entered the house, Auriana rushing forwards, grabbing onto Talia's hand and dragging her with her. The Xerin Princess gave Iris a look that meant something along the lines of 'save me' before she was pulled into the depths of the house.

Giggling to herself, Iris made her way slowly around, trying to get into the right mood. But she'd seen the house a million times over, surely there was nothing that could-

An ear-splitting scream shook the entire house and Iris jumped, covering her ears.

She didn't recognise the scream and after a while, it faded. Clearly there was something good further on in the house.

Iris hurried through the next door, ignoring most of the second room and passing into the third - she needed to catch up with Auriana and Talia anyway. But they were nowhere to be seen in this room either.

Then a soft wail, a murmur, thumps, and knocks, came to her attention. She cast her eyes around cautiously, about to brush it off as sound effects when her necklace began to glow.

The banging started up again, coming from behind the next door and she hurriedly pushed through it, expecting to find resistance. But the door gave way easily and Iris tumbled to the floor, dust flying up everywhere and getting in her nose. She sneezed a couple of times and squinted through the dust, trying to see what the problem was.

"Hello?" she called out.

"Iris?" called out an unidentifiable voice, but it seemed heavy and thick with tears.

The Princess wandered over to the source of the voice, coming across two coffins lying side by side, various pieces of furniture tossed carelessly on top of them - more than likely the haunted house workers making some last minute touches to the interior.

Her name was called again and Iris' eyes went wide as she recognised the voice. "Praxina?"

"Yes!" she snapped. That was Praxina alright. "Release us from these death beds so we can attack you."

Iris frowned down at the coffins. "Is Mephisto in the other?"

"Well I'm not using the royal we!" Praxina snarled. "Now get us out before he starts freaking out again. "He needs help," she added after a pause.

So that had been Mephisto's scream.

Iris nodded to herself and used her magic to remove the furniture from the top of the coffins, Praxina bursting out of hers as soon as she was able to, then angrily turning and blasting the offending wooden box to smithereens. Without sparing Iris a glance, she tugged open the other coffin.

"Mephisto, Mephisto you're free, get out. Mephisto! Get out, stop fooling around… Mephisto? Mephisto, come on!"

But the Ephedian teen made no attempt to move and, when Iris walked over and stooped down to look, she found he was curled as small as he possibly could in the space allowed, eyes shut tight, his entire body shaking.

Praxina continued to shout at him, her demands turning to pleads as she tugged at his sleeve.

But he wouldn't budge.

Eventually, Praxina gave up, and hung her head, mumbling apologies. Iris didn't know what to do, she'd never seen this side of the twins before, this vulnerable side that reminded her that Praxina and Mephisto weren't that much older than her. That they were just child soldiers like she was, except they were on the wrong side of the war.

"Mephisto," Iris said softly, reaching in to pull his hand out, "Mephisto look." She used her light magic to illuminate the room, almost blinding herself and Praxina who fell back, shocked.

Opening his eyes at the light, Mephisto blinked and glanced around, roughly pulling his hand out of Iris' when he realised she was holding it.

He looked up at her like a deer trapped in headlights, the fear fading slightly as he processed what had happened and where he was. "You… saved me?" he asked, unsure where this was a good thing or not.

Praxina made a noise of disgust.

Iris nodded and magicked one of the glowing pumpkins towards the three of them so she could let her magic fade but still have light.

Mephisto thought for a moment, then shakily got to his feet, stepping out of the coffin. "Then thank you, Princess. That's the second time you've helped me." The vulnerability returned to his eyes as he looked at her, searching for an answer. "Why?"

"You needed help," Iris said simply.

Praxina had had enough and pulled her brother away. "We don't need some knight in shining armour or, well, Princess, to help us everytime we mess up," she snarked, hands shaking, but not out of anger.

"Prax… You weren't… well you were there but you weren't-"

"I know what happened," she snapped, "you told me. Then praised the Princess' fighting style for about an hour afterwards. It made me sick."

Iris blinked at this information while Mephisto laughed nervously.

"It's not funny," Praxina muttered, crossing her arms. She let out a puff of air and turned on her heal, trying to act like her old self. "We'd love to stay and chat, Princess. But we have evil plans to put into play."

"Are you sure you're both okay? You're still shaking."

And indeed they both were.

Iris smiled sadly. "Surely even villains deserve a break? Why not spend the rest of the night with us? Call it a Halloween Truce. We can go trick or treating later, there's free candy."

Mephisto's eyes lit up at this, his paranoia settling at the talk of candy. "Can we, Praxina?"

After a few seconds of pursing her lips and looking back and forth between her hopeful brother and Iris' kind features, Praxina caved. "Fine. But this first truce thing had better be the last."

Iris wasn't sure she could promise that.


	2. Changing Face

"What are _they_ doing here," was the first thing that came out of Talia's mouth as Iris and the twins emerged from the haunted house together. Praxina and Talia raised their hands, magic circles appearing and ready to fight.

Iris quickly stepped between the two girls, lowering both their hands.

"I can explain." She turned to the twins. "Wait here." Iris then pulled her friends a little ways away and did indeed explain the situation fully.

Auriana's face dropped and she looked back at Mephisto. "Aw, poor guy, I almost feel sorry for him."

"Well you should!" Iris said just as Talia answered in the negative.

Iris sighed heavily. "Look, I know it's going to be hard, but they're just teenagers too. They deserve to have a break every now and again. Auriana," she turned to the redhead, "you remember how excited you were a few weeks ago at the school halloween party?"

"I do!"

"Don't you think Mephisto and Praxina deserve to feel like that too?"

Auriana bit her lip. "Yes?"

"No!" Talia was frowning. "They're villains, they're the reason we're stuck here on Earth instead of being back home on Ephedia!"

"What's so bad about Earth?" Iris asked defensively.

"Also," Mephisto interjecting, having heard Talia's remark, " _you're_ the reason _we're_ stuck on Earth too you know. Gramorr won't let us go home until we- OW!" Praxina had, rather roughly, stomped on his foot, luckily only using the front of her shoe.

After glaring at Mephisto, Praxina continued for him. "What my brother is trying to say, is that none of us are happy about this. And clearly this," she gestured between them all, "isn't going to work. So let's just forget the stupid truce and fight already!" Praxina raised her arm once again, but this time it was Mephisto who lowered it.

"One night, Prax. Nothing will happen in a night." He looked at Iris and smiled. "I'd love to try that trick or treating you were on about."

Eventually, everything got smoothed out, thought Talia refused to even look at Praxina, who did not have a problem with this and refused to do the same. Auriana on the other hand had decided to truly consider the twins friends - at least for the night - and was eagerly telling Praxina all sorts of halloween stories.

Iris and Mephisto walked ahead, Iris explaining the concept of trick or treating to him.

"So all I have to do is ring a doorbell and I get free candy?"

"More or less," Iris shrugged, "you do have a pretty good costume on. A little bit cliché," she teased, gently shoving him with her shoulder.

Mephisto grinned, picking up on her tone of voice, "Oh, and what's yours suppose to be, because I am truly terrified by the change from pink to red, Princess. Definitely an outfit fit for your spooky human holiday."

"Shush," she shoved him again. "I'm Ladybug, hence the mask and spots. Costumes don't have to be scary, you know."

Mephisto was about to reply to this when Iris' smoothie human arrived, rushing up to greet the three princess. "And you are?" he asked Mephisto, noticing how close he was standing to Iris.

"He's one of our fans" Iris put in quickly, then gestured behind her. "And that's his sister, also a fan?"

Praxina snorted. "You wish."

Nathaniel chuckled. "Not a fan then. Still, nice matching outfits." He gestured between the two twins. "Looks good."

"Nate, what happened to your matching costume?" Iris asked, stepping forwards and flicking the fake cat ears on his head that were the only evidence of him even being in costume apart from the mask he wore. She and Nathaniel had originally planned on trick or treating together as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but clearly she had over prepared.

"Yeah sorry, Iris. The costume I ordered was a little too tight, way too uncomfortable to even try to walk in. Yours looks nice though," he added hurriedly. "Very uh, fitting."

Now that the human mentioned it, Mephisto couldn't help noticing that Iris' costume was indeed very fitting. He coughed and tore his eyes away, watching the other trick or treaters mill around him instead. He was already thinking about what their teasing had meant, he didn't need to continue _that_ particular train of thought as well.

The girls and Nate chatted for a while longer, Praxina slowly drifting over to her brother to express her contempt for the entire situation.

"If you want to do this trick or treating lark so much, can't we at least do it ourselves?"

Mephisto thought for a moment. "But what if we do it badly?"

"We're villains," Praxina deadpanned, "doing things badly is what we do."

"Still," the younger twin muttered, "let's stick with the Princesses for now. Look, stop rolling your eyes for one minute," he continued as Praxina did just that, "and at least think about all the intel we can pick up from them. Or well, that you can, I'll be too busy with candy."

Praxina threw her arms up. "Fine, but I refuse to be friends with them."

"Your loss."

Mephisto eagerly ran forwards, slotting in easily into the conversation while Praxina looked on from afar. She grinded her teeth together. It wasn't her loss at all, Mephisto was suffering, he must be.

"So are we going to the festival first then?" Nate said as Mephisto arrived.

All the girls agreed and began discussing certain aspects of the festival they enjoyed, Iris going over each one for the Ephedians.

"Wait I thought we were trick or treating," Mephisto put in, concerned.

"We will," Nate assured him, "just afterwards."

Mephisto didn't like the sound of that and was just about to say this out loud when Iris grabbed his arm. "Oh it's going to be so fun! There's pie eating contests and apple bobbing and fireworks and…" Iris rambled on, listing off a whole bunch of stuff Mephisto didn't know about.

But Iris was laughing and smiling, and her eyes were shining brighter than any star he'd ever seen, so he really didn't mind all that much. Just being near her made him feel excited for this so called 'festival'. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

Iris called to Praxina and then they were on the move again.

Nathaniel subtly dropped back to walk next to Praxina. "Hey, why don't you walk with everyone else?"

"I am perfectly fine here, I'm only coming along because of my brother."

Nate nodded. "Sure. But you never know when you'll get this chance again." He laughed and Praxina fell silent, thinking hard. "I mean, they are Lolirock!" Ah so that's what he meant.

Still, he was right in one aspect. They probably _wouldn't_ get a chance like this again.

She looked up at her brother who was now peering at Iris' phone and grinning. Maybe they deserved that, Mephisto especially. So Praxina decided to actually make an effort to continue small talk, catching up with the girls after a while. Even Talia smiled at something Praxina said.

Meanwhile Mephisto was squinting down at Iris' phone, a picture of Chat Noir displayed.

"Okay I got this, hold on," he clicked his fingers and his costume changed to the one Nathaniel was originally suppose to wear, complete with belt tail, toe bean footprints and a working bell. "See, I told you I could do it," he said smugly. "How do I look?"

Iris bit her lip and tried to keep her eyes on his face, a mask now covering his features but leaving his dazzling green eyes untouched. Had they always been that vibrant?

She remembered their little team up and Mephisto's words to her as they'd parted ways. Remembered the way he'd looked at her, with such honesty in those acid green eyes of his, honest that had no business being there.

Yes, yes they had.

And had her heart always thumped so loudly in her chest when she looked in them?

Ever since their team up? Yes, yes it had.

"Purrfect," Iris finally answered, earning her a chuckle from Mephisto.

They soon arrived at the festival, everyone splitting up to investigate certain attractions. Praxina stuck with Nathaniel, and Mephisto with Iris.

First they visited the pie eating contest and Iris laughed and giggled her way throughout it as Mephisto attempted to win the grand prize and out eat all the other contestants. He came very close to winning and returned to Iris in the crowd with a smile.

"You still have some here," she commented nonchalantly, wiping the apple pie filling off his face for him.

Mephisto thanked her, grateful for the mask covering up his blush.

Next up was apple bobbing. Iris explained the activity, demonstrating by holding her hair back and sticking her head in the water. She reemerged seconds later with an apple in her mouth and a smile tugging at her lips.

"Just like that." She tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear, the water shimmering and dripping off her face and melting into the spots on her dress.

Mephisto watched careful as she licked the moisture off her lips and gulped, turning to the bucket of water and shoving his own face in before he gave too much away. Suddenly he realised why the smoothie boy had complained about the costume being tight.

A quick flick of his head and Mephisto also came back up to the surface with an apple in his mouth. His hair was almost completely wet through and Iris found herself missing the white shirt he'd been wearing, knowing full well the water droplets would have left it see through. She collected herself as he grinned at her and she smiled shyly.

Yes, the two were definitely falling fast for each other. Now if only the fall didn't have such devastating consequences.


	3. Opposite Sides

Everyone met up around an hour later, Praxina smirking subtly, Nathaniel's cat ears mysteriously missing. Auriana's makeup was smudged and Talia seemed to have loosened up a lot more, though she still refused to wear a costume. As for Iris and Mephisto, they were laughing and giggling together as if they'd been friends their whole life.

"Woah," Nathaniel said in awe as Mephisto and Iris walked over. "Where did you get that costume from? It's exactly like in the show."

"Magic," Mephisto replied.

Iris' eyes went wide and she stepped in front of Mephisto, pushing him behind her. "Haha, yes, magic sure, pfft, as if. No, Mephisto is just uh…" She struggled to find an answer, but there really was no explanation.

"It's okay, I get it," Nate held his hands up. "I flaked out on you, I'm glad you've got someone to match with. Though this means you're the only vampire now, Prax," he said, turning to her.

The other three girls exchanged a look. Since when was Nathaniel on nickname terms with Praxina?

She shrugged. "He can dress up as a Paloofian swamp monster for all I care."

Nathaniel snickered. He didn't quite know what a 'paloofian' swamp monster was, but it did not sound flattering. "Still, I wish I could whip up a quick vampire costume."

"I have a spare set of teeth," Praxina offered, magicking a set into the hand behind her back.

The human boy took them with a grin. "Perfect! I can be a member of some sort of secret vampire cult. You'd be the leader of course," he added with a wink.

Iris rolled her eyes and dragged Mephisto away. Sure, he made an effort for _her_. This was worse than Missy latching onto him every second, luckily it would just be for the night. And at least she had Mephisto to comfort her for the time being.

"Time for trick or treating?" Mephisto suggested hopefully.

Iris chuckled and squeezed his arm. "Sure. You got something to put the candy in?"

Mephisto gestured to his mouth with a grin.

At this Iris had to snort. "You won't fit it all in there. Or, more than likely, you'll make yourself sick trying to eat it all."

"Is that a challenge, Princess?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Definitely not! Also we," she gestured to Auriana and Talia who were chatting by the festival entrance, "usually pool candy and share it."

Mephisto stopped wiggling his eyebrows and raised them in contempt instead. "Share?"

"Yeah when you give stuff out eq-"

"I know what sharing is," he interrupted. "I just don't do it. I'm evil, remember?"

Iris suddenly remembered everything he'd done to the contrary. How much he cared for his sister, how he'd complimented her, how much he seemed to be enjoying _not_ being evil for once. "Sure," she said with a knowing smile.

Mephisto sighed heavily and subtly magicked one of the pumpkin baskets he saw people carrying into his hand. "There, happy now?"

She peered inside the basket. "I'd be happier if this didn't already have candy in."

"What sort of villain would I be if I didn't steal candy from a baby?" he quipped with a smirk, but he did click his fingers and return the basket to it's own, making up his own basket out of thin air. "There. _Now_ are you happy?"

"Make me one too?" she asked sweetly, giving him puppy dog eyes and smiling up at him.

In the end, he ended up making one for everyone and they began making their way along the main street. As their made their way to the first house, Iris stopped suddenly and gestured to Mephisto to lower himself to her level. She whispered something in his ear and he grinned widely, excitement shining in his eyes.

Nathaniel tilted his head slightly. "I wonder what they're talking about."

"Knowing my brother, either Iris just told him the location of an oracle gem, or just suggested something very very dumb."

"Oracle gem?" Nate asked, confused.

Praxina waved her hand nonchalantly. "The powerful gems that make up the crown of Ephedia. Me and my brother need to collect them and give them to Gramorr in order to defeat the princesses."

Now Nathaniel was even more confused. "Was… was that the backstory that went with the vampire costumes?" he suggested hopefully, ringing the doorbell.

She looked up at him and grinned, showing off her modified teeth. "So she hasn't told you, interesting…" Perhaps Mephisto was right, hanging out with the princesses and their human friend was indeed proving to be an invaluable source of intel. "I'll tell you later," she promised.

Nathaniel was about to thank her when - just as the door opened - Iris and Mephisto ran forwards. They jumped up into the air, perfectly synchronised, and landed in a superhero pose in front of the open door.

"Ladybug!"

"And Chat Noir!"

They said the last part together: "Here to save the day!"

The owners of the house they were at clapped enthusiastically, handing over almost triple the amount of candy they'd been giving everyone else. They never expected a show!

Mephisto grinned as he passed Praxina. "Look at all this candy!" he stage whispered, shaking the basket at her. Praxina rolled her eyes, uncaring until Mephisto continued with, "I bet I get more candy that you do."

Her head snapped around and she glared at him, then marched right up to the front door.

"Give me all your candy!" she demanded, eyes glowing.

The family laughed. "Oh noooo, the vampire is mind controlling us!" The woman holding the candy bowl slowly tipped it into her basket. "Whatever shall we do!" She stopped abruptly and patted Praxina on the cheek. "Is that enough dearie? Here we'll give some to your boyfriend too."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Praxina spluttered, taking her candy and running back down the drive without sparring Nathaniel a glance.

How dare these humans treat her like that and assume-

"Aw you _did_ get more candy than me," Mephisto pouted, looking into her basket. He grabbed Iris' hand and ran to the next house. "We'll beat you in the end though!" he called behind him.

Praxina narrowed her eyes.

Nathaniel walked up behind Praxina and waved his basket at her. "I tried that mind control thing you did and got loads of candy too, not as much, but still." He chuckled, "We should try it together." He gestured to Iris and Mephisto. "Your brother is teaming up with Iris to get more candy, who says we can't do the same."

"Very well…" Praxina said slowly as Auriana whooped in the background, having just received her candy. "But we are not pretending to be a couple."

"I never even suggested that," Nathaniel said quickly. "Why… were you thinking about it?"

Praxina's face turned red. "NO!" She regained her composure and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Let's just… go."

Iris and Mephisto were already halfway down the street by the time everyone else caught up to them and now had several baskets of sweets, not knowing whose were whose but not really caring all that much. Mephisto had accepted the idea of pooling their candy in the name of beating Praxina, and Iris was happy to say it was all Mephisto's provided they shared in the end. The arrangement just worked, especially since Praxina was stubbornly keeping her candy separate from Nathaniel's.

There was a mad dash to hit every single house they could, Iris giving Mephisto an advantage by knowing the fastest route around the entire neighbourhood. But Nathaniel gave Praxina the same advantage.

"Shall we just go home?" Auriana suggested as she and Talia sat on a street bench, watching the two couples run around like headless chickens.

"I thought you'd never ask," Talia muttered, standing up.

Most of the other trick or treaters had gone home by now, and houses were starting to run out of candy, Iris receiving a questionable single sweet and Mephisto an apple. As soon as the door closed, he dropped his smile and the apple.

"I think that was the last one," Iris mused as Mephisto struggled under seven or so baskets of candy.

"Good," he muttered, "I don't think I can hold anymore."

Iris gasped as she almost dropped one of hers. "Nope me neither. And you wanted to just put it all in your mouth."

"You say that like I still don't."

"Nu-uh, half for me, remember?" Iris pouted and Mephisto laughed good-naturedly, not a trace of malice in his voice.

He bumped shoulders with her. "I remember, Princess. Now let's get out of here." Without a second's pause, Mephisto teleported the pair around the back of Aunt Ellen's house on the pier, setting the candy down on the floor.

As he began counting and sorting, separating the candy into two equal piles, Iris bit her lip.

"Do you also remember how I suggested that you watch Miraculous Ladybug when you had some down time?"

"I do," Mephisto said without looking up.

She looked back at the house, her head screaming at her for what she was about to say, but her heart cheering her on. "Would you like to watch it with me? Now? In the house?"

This time he did look up, confusion etched on his face. "Why are you asking?"

Iris shrugged and sat down crossed legged in front of the pile of candy. "Because Auriana wants to watch scary movies and they bore me. Because I won't be able to carry all this candy inside on my own. Because I know you'd love the show with all the villains." _Because I'm not ready to go back to being enemies._

Just as Mephisto was about to reply, Praxina teleported next to him and he yelped, falling into the water.

The lack of Nathaniel concerned Iris. "You didn't kill him, did you?"

"Of course not," Praxina snapped. "He went home, and I came to fetch my brother." She dumped her baskets of candy on the floor. "And to settle our little contest." She surveyed the pile of candy, clearly bigger than her own. "Which I seem to have lost," she muttered, tongue clicking in annoyance.

"THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME OUT OF THE WATER, IRIS." Mephisto's voice from the water called out. "THANK YOU FOR SAYING SORRY, PRAXINA."

"You can fly."

"You can teleport."

Neither girl was impressed, though Iris was smiling and leant over to give him a hand up.

Mephisto smirked, an evil glint in his eyes. "You shouldn't have done that, Princess." He reached up for her hand, but instead of letting her pull him up, he pulled her into the water after him.

Iris shrieked and lost her balance, grabbing onto the only thing she could - Praxina's leg.

The two girls tumbled off the pier and crashed into the water, coughing and spluttering to the surface. Praxina teleported back onto dry land immediately, face twisted and distorted into a look of pure outrage. Mephisto caught Iris underwater and teleported next to Praxina, keeping a firm hold of the Princess.

"I should hand you over to Gramorr right now for that!" Praxina spluttered, trying to ring her hair out.

"But you won't," Iris assured her, trying not to think about Mephisto's arm under her knees or the hand on her back sending shivers up her spine. "You wouldn't be able to teleport both me and the candy to Ephedia."

The was a pause as both twins weighed up the piles of candy. "She has a point."

"Shut up, Mephisto."

There was a longer, more drawn out pause which Iris eventually broke by wiggling out of Mephisto's arms, her mask close to revealing her blush. "Look," she said with folded arms, facing the two twins, "you two can either stay out here in the cold, wet through, with _some_ candy. Or, you can help me carry this lot inside and we can share it _all_ and watch cartoons. And then you can sleep in a nice warm bed under a roof instead of the cave Mephisto told me you live in."

That did indeed sound like a very tempting offer. Especially since they'd have the chance to snoop if they got into the house.

"Only I'll need to get Talia to make sure there's some sort of magical contract sorted out so you can't attack us while we're asleep," Iris mused. "I'm certain I read something about a binding spell."

Klatznik. So much for snooping.

Mephisto and Praxina exchanged a look. "We'll talk about it and protect the candy while you go get Talia, just in case," Mephisto finally said.

Iris nodded and ran off, the protective barrier shimmering as she passed through it.

"So."

"So."

The twins sighed.

"You want to watch the stupid human show and eat the stupid human candy and go to sleep in the stupid human bed, don't you?" Praxina muttered, eyes fixed on the house.

Mephisto nodded, looking in the same direction. "And so do you."

"Gramorr will demand to know where we've been."

"He'll demand that anyway," Mephisto said through gritted teeth. "We can always lie. Intel, remember."

Praxina pursed her lips. "Wouldn't entirely be a lie. I have intel on the smoothie human."

Mephisto snorted. "Oh yeah, like his favourite colour? I'm sure Gramorr will appreciate that little tidbit of information, it'll certainly come in handy when he's trying to defeat the princesses and take over Ephedia."

"We can use him against Iris, idiot," Praxina shot. "Also his favourite colour is aqua," she continued, much quieter.

"So are we doing this or not?" Mephisto asked as he noticed the girls leave the house.

Another glance at the candy, an overview of the house and the princesses, a look out of the corner of her eyes at her brother who was shivering, a puddle of water at his feet.

Perhaps it was Nathaniel's influence, perhaps is was her own sisterly instincts kicking in, but either way, words that had followed her every since that fated day returned with a vengeance. The words wove their way through the strings of black magic and nestled against her heart, sending them up up up until she could hear her Papi almost as clear as day in her head: _You two have to take care of each other now_ , _you're all the other has left._

"Let's do this, brother."


End file.
